Based on a project by Pärnu architect Margit Kõrts, completed in 1997, a three-storey villa was built on a corner plot cut from the old Bööcke property opposite Mud Baths. The villa was given a male name, Matias, which was unusual for Pärnu. 

The site had previously been without any permanent buildings, although various kiosks and pavilions stood on the site at different times. Unfortunately, neither the builder nor the keeper of the earliest of these is known, but it is preserved in quite a few photographs taken around the Bathing Institution before World War I. 

Pärnu’s first local cinema 

The year 1908 is considered an important date in Estonian cinema history, as it is when Estonia’s first local cinema was established in Tartu (the electric theatre “Illusioon” in Heinaturg). In Pärnu, the first cinema building was completed a year earlier, here, opposite the Bathing Institution. However, we can’t say that it was a permanent cinema, as just a few years later, this shed-like building was dismantled and moved from here to the city centre. 

The National Archives has preserved a project commissioned by Theodor Põntson to build a cinema theatre on land rented from Bööcke. The plans for it were drawn up by the newly appointed city architect Alfred Jung, and the cinema was opened to the public in the spring of 1907. According to the newspaper, at least initially, it was not going very well: “An electrobiography theatre has recently opened here on Baade Street, which is open on business days and on Sundays. Participation initially low“. 

The cinema was initially run by Karl Stephan, a cinema owner from Tallinn. From 1909, it was run by David Burmistrovitch, a Jewish national living in Pärnu. He later became Pärnu’s longest-serving cinema owner. He was the managing director of “Ideal”, “Pallas” and the latter’s successor, Jaan Pulli’s new cinema on Vee Street, opened in 1930 (cinema “Kiir” during the Soviet era). 

The cinema here by the beach was not very popular. The last time it advertised itself on Supeluse Street was in August 1910. In November, the cinema was moved to a new and probably the best possible location in the city centre – right next to the railway station building (on the site where the DeLange business centre was built in the 1990s, at Pikk Street 11). 

Tarassevitch’s lemonade kiosk 

Although the cinema space on the corner of Supeluse Street remained empty, a new pavilion replaced the small one next to the cinema site. The pavilion was commissioned in 1913 by a man named Gusev, and in the project, it was called a fruit stand. It was a light pavilion-type shelter with a small sales counter in one corner. The sales point was soon taken over by the merchant Tarassevitch, who had doors and windows installed on the pavilion. He remained in business here for quite a few years. 

Born in Russia, Parfen Tarasevitch (1872-1958) married Ekaterina, who was born in Pärnu, and their home was located nearby, on Väike-Ohvitseri (Kajaka) Street. Tarassevitch was an entrepreneur – he ran a restaurant in Kuursaal in the early 1920s and later a grocery store on Karusselli Street. In 1926, he also stood as a candidate for the city council on the list of homeowners. 

Unbuilt post office 

During the Soviet era, plans were made to build a post office here. Namely, the Pärnu Post Office No. 3, which shared space with the bank on the first floor of the former Wesset’s house, was in severe shortage of space, especially considering the large number of visitors during the summer period. The design for the new post office was prepared by architect Kalju Luts (1931-1995), whose works in the city include the hotel “Pärnu”. 

However, the post office pavilion remained unbuilt on this site. By 1973, a much larger and more complex communications office building was completed on Kuuse Street. In addition to the usual postal services, it also housed a telegraph and five telephone points for long-distance calls, as well as a reading hall for reading newspapers and letters – all to better serve the increasing number of tourists arriving from all over the Soviet Union. However, as they were still struggling with catering for guests during the summer, it was decided to build another pavilion-style dining bar on Nõukogude Street, to be called “Romantika” 

In 1997, a project for the construction of an apartment building on this corner plot was drawn up by Pärnu architect Margit Kõrts. According to the description, the architectural approach of the building is guided by 1930s functionalism and the building traditions of Pärnu villas. For this reason, flat roofs were chosen over pitched roofs, and a light-coloured plastered facade was chosen as the facade covering. The two-storey building has a third storey with a setback, a swimming pool was planned in the courtyard and a decorative fountain in the street-facing front garden. The first floor was also planned to include lounge-style spaces for a café, but a café has not been opened. The building was completed in 1998.